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From Hare to Heir
From Hare to Heir is a 1960 Merrie Melodies short directed and written by Friz Freleng. Plot At Bedlam Manor, in 17th century England, Sam, Duke of Yosemite finds out from his big-nosed servant that his uncle, the King, has decided to cut off his allowance. Sam punishes the servant for this message, accusing him of "not having the books balanced," by giving him the nose-in-the-book penalty, slamming a heavy book on the servant's big nose. Sam is desperate for money. Bugs Bunny comes to his door offering one million pounds to a mild-tempered person. Whenever Sam loses his temper, a small fraction of the one million pounds will be deducted, the size of the fraction depending on what Bugs thinks it suits. Sam welcomes Bugs into his home, anxious to receive the one million pounds. Bugs plays the role of an annoying house guest; this naturally provokes Yosemite Sam to lose his temper and losing more money. First, Bugs asks Sam for multiple items at dinner, first salt, then pepper, and later olives, all while sitting at the opposite end of a very long dining room table. Each time he is asked for something, Sam loses his temper, and cusses and shouts out phrases like "Rackin' Frackin' Varmint Rabbit." Each time Sam loses his temper, he loses money as well. This makes him even madder, causing him to lose his temper over and over again. Going into a closet to rant and rave doesn't help, as Bugs can hear him, causing Sam to lose his first £300, then £400 when Sam shouts "£300?!", so Sam has to run outside to rant and rave. That night, Bugs keeps provoking Sam by playing the piano and singing his version of "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" obnoxiously while Sam is trying to sleep, only for him to say "Stop that music, ya crazy rackin', frackin', varmint rabbit!" After Bugs deducts some more money for Sam losing his temper, Sam asks Bugs to sing him to sleep by playing "Brahms' Lullaby". Bugs then becomes a one-man band and ticks off Sam even more, though Sam pretends that he likes it. Next morning, Bugs hogs the bathroom and when Sam knocks on the door and demands him to "Get out of there!", Bugs opens it quickly and accidentally smashes Sam between the door and the wall. When Sam shouts at him to get out, Bugs deducts even more money, £400 and 35 shillings this time. Already furious, Sam pounds his head on the piano, making Bugs think Sam's playing a song. Realizing he's not going to have any money left if the temper-money deductions keep up, Sam gets an idea to kill Bugs in order to receive all of the one million pounds, planning to make it look like an accident. Each time Sam tries to kill Bugs, it backfires, causing Sam to fall into his own trap and get injured. First, he saws a hole in the floor outside the bathroom door, covers it with a rug, and tries to get Bugs to come out by telling him somebody wants to see him, but Bugs orders Sam to tell whoever it is to come back the next day as he'll be in the bathroom all day. This makes Sam mad enough to bust into the bathroom and push Bugs out, only to fall through the very same hole into the river below, all the while cursing. When Sam returns and Bugs tells him he's done with the bathroom, Sam rushes at him, but falls through the hole and into the river again, cursing the entire way down. Later, Bugs climbs up a really long staircase saying, "The Alps have got nothing on these stairs for climbing." At the top, Sam, dressed in a suit of armor, tries to chop off Bugs' head with a double-bladed axe, but Bugs ducks and Sam falls down the stairs. While falling down the stairs, Sam continues to rant, curse and rave, and Bugs continues the deductions. Finally, the next day, Sam gets control of his temper. He tries to show Bugs this by having his servants physically abuse him repetitively by kicking him, throwing pies in his face, and hitting him with a rolling pin. Bugs says, "I haven't got the heart to tell him he's used up all the money." Availability * DVD - Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire (cropped to widescreen) Censorship * The ABC version of this cartoon shortens the part at the end where Yosemite Sam shows Bugs that he "...don't get mad no more" and lets his servants kick him, hit him in the head, and slam a pie in his face (before Bugs asides to the audience that he doesn't have the heart to tell Sam that he lost all his money).http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-e-f.aspx Goofs * When Bugs sings "Brahm's Lullaby" in an obnoxious manner near Sam's room, his mouth doesn't move. * During the bathroom scene, the bathroom door is inconsistently open inward and outward in certain shots. Notes * A scene (pictured to the right) was later reused in Devil's Feud Cake. * This cartoon was included in the 1983 compilation film Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island as the final cartoon for Sam's wish. * The foreign dubbing tracks done over the Bugs and Marvin VHS in 1997 have its original 1959-64 Merrie Melodies theme replaced with 1945-55 one.https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6v93dx * Throughout this cartoon, Yosemite Sam ended up wasting the one million pounds worth of money he was given, all within the course of three days, thanks to his failure to control his explosive temper. * Beginning from this cartoon, several changes have been made to the opening/closing titles of the Looney Tunes cartoons for the early-1960s until the closure of the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio in 1964; ** The copyright byline now says "Warner Bros. Pictures Inc." instead of "The Vitaphone Corp." ** After the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies card it now fades to black instead of cross-fading to the cartoon titles. ** The end cards now have either "A Vitagraph Release" (Looney Tunes) or "A Vitaphone Release" (Merrie Melodies) underneath the "A Warner Bros. Cartoon" byline. Gallery Haretoheir.jpg|Title Card (Faded Quality) From Hare to Heir.png|Title Card (Remastered Fullscreen Version) Pub-Hare-Heir.GIF|Lobby Card FromHareToHeirLC.jpg|Lobby Card (Higher Quality) References External Links * * From Hare to Heir at B99.TV * From Hare to Heir at SuperCartoons.net Category:1960 Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons Category:Yosemite Sam Cartoons Category:Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island Cartoons Category:Shorts Category:Cartoons written by Friz Freleng Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons with layouts by Hawley Pratt Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Tom O'Loughlin Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:DVD Widescreen Cropped Cartoons Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons produced by John W. Burton